


adventures in nephew sitting

by AllHaleOlicity



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Next Generation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27035647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllHaleOlicity/pseuds/AllHaleOlicity
Summary: William has one option for a babysitter
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	adventures in nephew sitting

"You're out of luck." Ada skipped down the stairs of the Queen mansion, her older brother William following closely behind. "I promised Bex that it was just us tonight. No boys."

"He's 3." William stressed. "Ada, please. Zoe and I can't bring a toddler to a restaurant opening."

Ada paused at the front door, spun around, and placed a hand on William's shoulder. She gave him a sympathetic smile and shook her head. "Tell Liam to make Mac and Cheese and nuggets. You'll be fine." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning back around and walking out of the house.

William sighed, dropping his head at the sound of the door closing behind Ada. He has half a million siblings and no one is available to babysit for him for 2 hours?

"What's with you?" Owen asked, walking in from the kitchen.

William picked his head back up and looked over at his youngest brother. "I don't have a babysitter for Clay. And Zoe and Liam are both going to kill me because of it." He explained, turning to the toddler playing with toys in the living room.

"Where's Thomas and Jade?"

William shrugged.

"Eliza and Ronnie?"

He shrugged again.

"Mia?"

Owen received a raised eyebrow for that one.

"Ada said no boys, what about JJ and Isaac?"

"I'm not leaving Clay with Isaac."

Owen threw his hands up in defeat. "I guess you have to bring him then." He said, walking past William to the living room where Clay was.

Will watched as his brother sat down beside Clay and handed him a box of apple juice. A light bulb went bright in his brain, then it dimmed as he doubted the decision he was about to make, but he didn't have a choice.

"You're babysitting." He said, walking over to Owen and handing him the note that Zoe left for the babysitter. "This is Clay's schedule, he won't follow it."

"Wait-"

"He's basically Rosie but less action hero and more race cars, you'll be fine."

"But this was supposed to be my night with no responsibility. Rosie is staying with the rest of the littles at Uncle Tommy's house for this reason."

"I don't think she's staying away for you specifically." William corrected, grabbing his coat from the hanger by the door. "Besides, you'll still get your night off. Clay goes to bed around 9. Like I said, you'll be fine. Just try to follow Zoe's list and promise you won't let him escape."

"Escape-"

"It's a joke. Worst case, he stays up and Zoe and I will be here by 11." He quickly put on his jacket before there was a knock at the door.

William turned to open up the door, expecting to see one of Owen's friends based on how annoyed he was with babysitting. But instead it was Zoe with her arms crossed.

"Ada left, what's going on?"

William waved over to Owen and Clay. "Owen's watching him. We can go."

"Owen?" She questioned, looking past William to the teenage boy in the living room floor. She looked back at William, then at her watch, then at Owen and Clay, then back at William. "Okay." She rolled her eyes and gave Owen a wave. "Have fun, love you." She said before disappearing out the door again.

William took one last glance back at Owen, then followed his wife out of the house.

Owen sighed, looking down at Clay still enjoying his juice box. "Your parents are a lot."

Clay looked up at Owen. "30 dollars?"

Owen nodded slowly. "30 dollars." He repeated, sitting against the couch and picking up one of Clay's toy cars. "Have you eaten yet?"

Clay nodded.

"What'd you eat?"

"Um...A waffle."

Owen narrowed his eyes at the toddler. "A waffle? It's 7. What else have you eaten?"

"Two waffles."

Owen stood up and walked back towards the kitchen. Clay quickly stood up and chased him.

He looked around at the food in front of him. His dad always prepared a weeks worth of food whenever he went out on the field. This isn't because he was afraid something would happen, he just knows how many kids he has to feed daily. Most of them aren't even his kids but he feeds them anyway.

"What do you want to eat?" Owen asked, looking down at Clay who was holding onto the fridge door for him.

"Cheese."

"You can't have cheese for dinner."

"Um...Ketchup.

"Clay. You have to pick something real."

"Ketchup is real!" The toddler exclaimed, crossing his arms and looking up at Owen.

Owen sighed, reaching into the fridge. "Whatever I pull out is what you're going to eat." He said, grabbing the first Tupperware container and pulling it from the top shelf of the fridge. He read the label, then put it back. "Never mind." He took out the second container and followed the same steps.

"What is that?" Clay asked.

"Spaghetti." He looked down at Clay. "Is spaghetti okay?"

Clay nodded and Owen let out a sigh of relief as he walked over to the microwave. He took a small bowl from the cabinet and a spoon from the drawer to give Clay a serving of the elbow spaghetti. Once the food was in the microwave, he put the container back into the fridge and set Clay up at the table before the food finishing warming up.

After he was done eating, Owen cleaned up Clay. He wasn't a very messy eater, he could definitely be better but he only had a few sauce stains. Once he was clean, Owen sent him back to the living room so he could clean up the mess in the kitchen. Again, not very messy. Clay was a good kid, he had good parents. He might only be 3 but he was smart and he knew how to not make a mess when he felt like listening to the rules.

Owen took the bowl and spoon that Clay was using and cleaned them up. He knew that if he didn't clean up what was used for the spaghetti, his dad would kill him. So instead of just leaving the bowl and spoon in the sink, he just washed it to get that over with. It will save later Owen a problem.

"Owen!"

He turned his head towards the living room. He could see Clay standing in the middle of the living room staring at him.

"What?" He asked, putting the bowl and spoon back in the drawer and cabinet.

"I wanna watch Cars 3."

"You need to go to bed soon, you don't have time for a movie."

"I wanna watch Cars 3." He repeated.

Owen walked over towards the toddler. "Your parents said bedtime."

"I wanna watch Cars 3."

"You need to go to bed soon."

"Cars 3."

"Bed soon."

Clay crossed his arms again, stomped over to the couch, and sat down. He looked directly at the TV, no longer paying Owen any attention.

"The TV isn't even on."

Clay picked up the remote and held it out for Owen.

"I'm not putting Cars on TV, you need to go to sleep."

Clay dropped the remote, letting it hit the ground. Owen sighed, bending over to pick it up and sit it back down on the couch.

"I'm gonna tell your parents you were mean."

Clay looked up at Owen. "I wanna watch Cars 3."

Owen sat down beside Clay, took the remote and turned on the TV. "One hour of Cars 3. Then you go to sleep. Deal?"

Clay nodded.

After the movie, because no matter how hard Owen tried Clay would not give up, it was finally time to convince a 3 year old to go to bed. More difficult than it should have been, but he was determined.

"Clay, you need to go to bed. Mommy and Daddy said so."

"No."

"They're gonna come home and get mad that you're not in bed."

"No." He said more aggressively, turning away from Owen on the couch.

"You're in a mood because you're tired. Go to bed."

"I don't wanna go to bed!" He yelled, sliding off of the couch and running towards the kitchen.

Owen leaned further back into the couch. "Clay, I'm tired."

"You go to bed."

Before Owen could say anything else, the front door opened. Clay jumped at the sound of the door opening, he ran back over to Owen. William and Zoe walked through the door just as Clay jumped back onto the couch, climbing on Owen.

"Hey?" Zoe waved, walking over to Owen and Clay. "Why aren't you getting ready for bed?" She asked, picking Clay up off of Owen.

"He wanted to watch Cars 3." Owen answered.

Zoe looked from Owen to Clay. "Did you watch Cars?"

"Yeah."

"Did you like it?"

"Yeah."

"You ready for bed now?"

Clay frowned, knowing he didn't have a choice. Zoe looked between Owen and William. "I'm gonna get him upstairs." She said before walking towards the staircase.

William gave her a small wave as she passed by him to walk up the stairs. Once she was out of direct listening distance, William walked over to Owen, who was still sitting on the couch defeated.

"How'd it go?" He asked, putting his hands in his coat pocket.

"I'm never having kids." He answered flatly, closing his eyes and laying further back on the couch.

William scoffed, shaking his head. "We'll see about that in a few years." He turned around to walk towards the staircase.

"What's that mean?" Owen asked, not looking over at him.

"Thanks for watching Clay. Goodnight." William replied as he went upstairs.


End file.
